A Message to Sarah West
'This is a message to Sarah West (MelodyPurplePrincess). Sarah, if you're reading this, please pay attention and follow along. Be sure to also take down some notes if you need to. ' Sarah, I have something to tell you. I have been waiting to tell you this for quite a while, and now may be the perfect time to do so. Have you seen the edits that I made on your pages? Well, it's because I want to help you get better at contributing to wikis. You're only a beginner, so you're going to need some help from a few experts on this wiki, like me. Grammar and Spelling First off, let's talk about your writing problems. I saw that you sometimes tend to make the first letter of every word uppercase when they're supposed to be lowercase. You also end some of your sentences or statements with an exclamation point, even when they don't need to be expressed with really strong emotion. In general, text in English has less than 1 exclamation mark per 1000 words; in academic English it's 1 per 10,000 words. You used to have this problem when working on wikis, but I saw that you've learned how to improve your grammar, spelling, and punctuation. You only use capital letters when starting a name or a sentence, and you end your sentences with a period. But there's only one problem: you still have those writing issues when you create videos on GoAnimate. You make either grounded videos or random videos about a certain topic (mostly about Woody Woodpecker, Koopalings, or something like that), and you almost always use words that start with unnecessary capitalism, you use improper grammar, and you express strong emotion by ending most of you sentences with exclamation marks. When I saw how you write on wikis and how you write in her GoAnimate videos, I realized that you tend to switch between proper spelling and punctuation and improper spelling and punctuation. Grammar is the system that structures a language, and every language has its own guidelines. But grammar isn't so much about rules as it is the conventions that determine how we speak and write, and it includes things like spelling, inflecting words for different purposes, and the way words are arranged to form sentences. While it's good to remember that languages are living things that constantly change, it's also important to know that proper grammar is still necessary for communication. Whenever you write something that has incorrect grammar, spelling, or punctuation, I make sure to correct what you wrote. If you want to learn how to improve your grammar, you can start by reading this article. Image Galleries Another problem of yours is the way you make image galleries. I saw that when you make an image gallery, you add the link of the page that the images are already on, which isn't a good idea, because it will send viewers who click on the images back to the page they're already on. When you're creating an image gallery for a page, do not add the link of the page that the images are already on, because people want to see the images by clicking on them to see them more closer. Original Characters I know that you like to make your own original characters, but there's only one problem: not all of the OCs you make belong to you. We all know about your bad habit of stealing OCs or already-made characters and claiming them as your own. You're not very original when it comes to making OCs, and the only ones you're original with are characters you make using dress up games on websites like Rinmaru Games and Doll Divine or the characters you make on GoAnimate. When you don't use those websites to make OCs from scratch, you take random, already-made OCs, existing characters, and character renders from DeviantArt and claim to have made them yourself. You also use random character clipart for your OCs, which doesn't really solve your problem with plagiarism. While your habit of stealing OCs isn't as bad as it used to be on wikis, some of your videos on YouTube have OCs that you stole from DeviantArt or other websites, and you think that they're your own when they're not. Not only you're not very original or creative when it comes to designing your OCs, but you're also not very original or creative when it comes to giving your OCs names and personalities. Sometimes, you use one name on too many of your characters or characters you steal, which makes that name rather cliche, and your taste in character personalities is kind of bland, as you tend to give your characters the same interests as yourself, and you give your characters at least one trait that really doesn't fit their appearance. That's why when you make an OC or copy from an existing one, I make sure to redo those pages and give the characters different personalities that make them stand out a little more. You need to understand that you've been stealing ideas from other people, and stealing isn't necessarily a good thing. You need to stop plagiarizing and learn how to use your own ideas rather than just ripping off from someone else, because if you do that, then you're not being very original. The best way to find out that you've been plagiarizing from someone else is to "reverse search" the images that you used for the designs of your OCs. Two helpful reverse search websites you can use are TinEye and the Google Reverse Image Search engine. Take a moment to look back at the characters that you "created", take a look at some of your videos featuring those characters, and reverse search the images. One of my tasks is to help you understand plagiarism so that you won't steal OCs anymore and learn to create your own. Plagiarism is wrong, and you can get in serious trouble if you steal and pass off someone else's work as your own. Details and Inspiration I'm starting to believe that you need to be more creative with your ideas, since you normally use the same characters or concept for your ideas over and over. Since you tend to write about the same things (Woody Woodpecker, Pretty Cure, Kingdom Hearts, Koopalings, etc.), I suspect that you might lack inspiration, so I decided to help you write about other topics, such as RWBY or Angry Birds. I'll also teach you how to come up with something more creative, inspirational, and imaginative. Names You seem to have a bad habit of addressing people by their full names, including yourself. Addressing people by their full names is unnecessary, and you can just address them by their first names instead of their full names. The Devices You Should Use I'm beginning to think that the reason why your pages sometimes have spelling errors and incorrect punctuation is because you use an iPhone to edit or add pages. iPhones have small keypads, which might not be easy to use when you're writing something online. My suggestion is that you should use an iPad, a computer, or a laptop. I normally use a computer or laptop to edit pages on wikis, and they work very well. You should try using a computer or iPad, too. Advancing Toward Maturity While I'm at it, I want to talk to you about how you should advance toward maturity as you get older. You may be 19 years old, but you seem to act somewhat naive and childish, as shown in some of your early work on wiki pages and your YouTube videos. You're going to be 20 soon, right? Well, as you get older, you'll need to learn to stop acting like a child and start acting like an adult. After all, you can't be a child forever. Even though you're quirky and naive, as you're a young adult, you seem to be more mature and understanding, and as time progresses, becoming more mature can help you improve your professional life and lead to a more fulfilling personal life. I can't really force you to become mature, but you can learn how to become mature. There will be moments of brilliance and clear thinking, but for the most part, you will have to stumble your way in order to become an adult. Here are some websites that might help you get started. What I'm Going to Do Now I'm going to conclude this by explaining how I will help you. I will teach you about organizing your thoughts and using better written language, so that you'll be able to communicate with people who read your pages easier. Even though you are in your late teens and you're going to enter adulthood soon, you're still struggling to develop proper writing skills, so I will be there for you to help you start developing your mind a little more so that you can understand the concepts of proper writing. So, do we have a deal? Do you want me to help you improve your writing? I will not take no for an answer, because you will need some help from me and the other experts here on this wiki. I'm going to keep my word. I am going to help you, Sarah. I'm not going to give up. Please keep what I told you in mind. JessicaFin23 (talk) 20:45, March 4, 2017 (UTC) Category:Blog posts